The Autumn Moon in My Dreams

Blurb:

Seven years ago, during the Yongding Rebellion, the emperor was old and frail. Li Xinmeng was only eight when her father forced her to marry a wealthy landowner in his sixties. As she struggled against her fate, she met Mu Jingbai and Xia Zixin. Back then, Li Xinmeng was still Li Xinmeng.

Seven years later, the new emperor was weak, and the empress dowager held power. Li Xinmeng had become Lin Qingqiu, daughter of the Marquis of Jing'an, a martial prodigy renowned as the Mulan of Wusheng, and as beautiful as Yiguang. She was blessed with every kind of happiness and showered with love. Yet she discovered that she seemed to have forgotten her past.

“Brother Mu, I'll wait for you.” When she was a child, she had chased him out of the house with tears in her eyes, watching helplessly as he left.

Later, he collapsed before her, covered in blood and drawing his last breath. “I came too late. I'm sorry...”

That year, a single white peony bloomed in the capital. It was called “Autumn Night Moon”!

(PS: This story takes place seven years before and seven years after. The heroine has a different name in each part because her identity changes.)

The story begins when three children with very different fates meet at the Flower Festival. Two of them become sworn brothers, while one pledges herself to another. Each takes on a different identity, and their lives become entwined.

Years later, the farm girl Li Xinmeng has become Lin Qingqiu, the daughter of the Marquis of Jing'an. She has lost her memories and forgotten the past. Xia Zixin, heir to the Prince of Ming, has become the Prince of Shun. Overcome by too much pain (PDST), he spends his days indulging in pleasure at brothels.

They have both forgotten someone else...

Until one day, a man suddenly appears before them at the Marquis of Jing'an's birthday banquet, disrupting their seemingly peaceful lives.

His name is Mu Jingbai. Known as the “Phoenix Young Master,” he lives by Phoenix Lake and can see through people's hearts and unravel the secrets of fate. From the emperor down to ordinary subjects, everyone talks about him. His appearances always bring death and unease, and his arrival once again plunges the capital of Daliang into bloodshed.

As they work together and become entangled in a series of cases, Lin Qingqiu's sealed memories gradually begin to resurface. It turns out that in the heavy rain that year, a child named Li Xinmeng died. The only one who survived was Lin Qingqiu!

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Theme: Sacrifice and selflessness are both a vow and something one never regrets.